St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-06-20
THE HIGHEST KNOWLEDGE.
Rev. M. ID. Shutter at the Church
OF the Redeemer

OF the RedeemeP.
1.-THE knowledge of the truth is some
times rendered the true or perfect
knowledge. When we read in the con-
text of form of Goodness without the
power, it suggests that there may also
be form of knowledge without the
power, without the vital element. One
may know all about the cover of book.
and may even be able to analyZe and
criticize its sentences without knowing
the book in any deep sense. He only
knows it into whose soul its Star-like
truths have ShOne.. He knows it who
has been blessed by it, whose aspira-
tons have been directed upward by it.
whose enthusiasm for the good and
beautiful and ennObling it has kindled
into blaze. He knows it into whose
character its thoughts have become
woven, whose life it has exalted. who.
under the touch of its transforming
wand, has been changed into a better
and grander man. This is knowledge
in its highest and trueSt sense, not of
form, but of power.
When men speak of the knowledge of
Christ, is there not a prOfOunder mean.
ing in the phrase than we think? 1t
means more than to be acquainted with
siiO liOiuCHto vi liic SOSptl narratives.
1t means more than to hold some theory
of His person and work. There have
been leSS.diScuSSions about His deity
and humanity, His attributes and His
offices. In trying to make Him a god.
the one thing that was God-like. his
character, has been well-nigh forgotten.
The inner life of Jesus, the life from
which gives out the influence that has
moulded and that will mould mankind.
tranScendS the catechiSms and creedS
with their linked logic and up-piled
propositions. He who has never learned
more of Christ than is set forth in par
tlcular system or confession, is still in
darkness! To know Christ is to receive
from His life and deeds an inspiration
that impelS us to carry our own lives uD
to higher plane and to build in deeds
like His our everlasting memorials.
TIE influence we receive from such a
character is similar in kind to
that which we receive from every
great character of history, but com
ing from one in whom Gods life beat so
strongly, it touches that side of orr
nature which is turned towards God.
and under its genial rays the soul puts
forth blossoms and bears fruits of
righteousness and joy. To know Christ
is to appropriate to our hearts the won
drous truths that He taught, to weave
them into the web of character. to send
them ramifying through every fiber of
our being, until they become to us spirit
and life. To know Christ is to be in
sympathy with Him in His work for this
dark and sinful world-tO understand
and be in harmony with His plans for
the uplifting of men. We know Him as
we rise into His experiences. We nm
derstand the facts of the gospel as they
become facts in our personal histories
The record is not alone a picture of the
past. but drama that to be understood
must be enacted to-day. Not of one man
were these things written, but of All
men, of you and me when we come to
live like that one. Only as our own
lives are represented in those pages do
we know what is written.
To know Christ is to be like Christ.
There Is an old sentence which says:
"NOne but God can know God" That
only which is god-like in us can know
God. In like manner we may say of
Christ, ''NOne but Christ can know
Christ" He can only know Him who is
already Christ in the germ. By the
rude prophecy which is in him he
touches the glorious fulfillment.
This is the knowledge which carries
in its BOSOM life eternal. These are the
qualities and this the character that
shall endure. Evil must die, outward
things perish, but the work done i'm the
heart will last while God lives. When
we have the clearest vision of that work,
WREN the best part OF our nature is in
the ascendant, when we are living in
our loftiest moods and feelings, then it
is that there is least of doubt that life
will be prOtracted beyond the horizon.
1t seems worth while to carry it over
and we feel that what is worth immor-
tality will be immortal. But when life
descends from its attitudes to grovel in
the dust, when it becomes poor and
mean, then is it that our doubts rise like
clouds to obscure the glory of the other
world. Let him who would keep his
assurance bright, keep high and pure
his life and thought!